Journal #4

Freedom of Speech. Should there be limits to this constitutional guarantee?

"The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." This is the definition for "freedom of speech" according to the Canadian Constitution. The key phrase in that definition is "reasonable limits" so yes, there should be limits to this specific constitutional guarantee. However, there are those who refute this and so therefore, there are three reasons as to why there should be reasonable limits set on the freedom of speech. These reasons deal with the effects of the aftermath of what something has been said and why they should not be said. The three reasons are that hate is caused amongst people, what is the good moral of what has been said, and proving that "if you don't have something good to say, don't say it at all" is actually a very good quotation to remember.

First of all, the world is already a mean and cruel place. That is a fact. If somebody says something derogatory to another person or their race, both groups may engage in a fight and therefore hate is caused. Furthermore, if a racial or discriminatory comment is made, people may not stand for it and right then and there, people will turn against you and if they were your friend, they may not be anymore. So being careful with what you say is obviously important because you never know what might happen. Also, if you are discriminating against someone else's culture or personal beliefs, then they may talk about your culture and personal beliefs and therefore not only will the two parties engage in a fight but also their cultures will be at war with each other. Therefore, one little comment could ignite a battle which in turn could ignite a war between cultures causing more hate then there already is in the world.

The seconed point is that there is no good moral or meaning for saying something that could insult a person or something that belongs to them whether it is a family member, belief or cultural aspect. Saying something without a good moral leaves a bad atmosphere. For example, if someone does not know the answer to something, rather than making fun of them and leaving an insult which darkens the mood, try to help them with their problem so people may feel comfortable in talking to you if they ever experience problems. Moreover, we as children picked or pick up what we learn from our elders. Our younger siblings, relatives or friends learn what we say and how we say it and therefore could respond to another person in the same way. An example of this could be that we are talking to our friends on the phone and in the meantime our 5 year old brother listens to the conversation. The brother may pick up some words that depending on us, could be bad or good. In other words have moral or no moral. So if we talk to our friends and start swearing, even as a joke, who's not to say that our little brother will not pick up those dirty words and start saying them at his school to his friends? This creates a domino effect because as those children grow older and start using that filthy vocabulary more often and saying it to one another, they may also loose friends and therefore the "reasonable limits" set upon the freedom of speech will continue to not have a "reasonable limit"!

Lastly, "if you don't have something good to say, don't say it at all" is a very important quotation to learn when talking about the freedom of speech we have been given. This statement is self explanatory as it means if what we have to say does not benefit us or anyone or anything we do in life, then simply put, do not say it at all! For example, think before you speak. If you are talking to your brother and he asks you something, don't just act tough and shun him away, rather listen to what he has to ask and try and help him with what he needs help with. If we do this, it sets a good example or in other words a reasonable limit on what to and what not to say. Also, if you know something you are going to say is going to hurt anyone emotionally, then do not say it. It does nothing to help society so do not bother saying it.

So in conclusion, there should be reasonable limits to this constitutional guarantee because if there is not then what we say will have no good meaning or moral to it. Also, hate will be created amongst parties, religions or cultures or whoever we decide to insult. Lastly, if people do not have something that is good to say then do not say it at all. If the world followed this statement religiously, imagine how much more peaceful the world would be!